This planetary nebula was one of the first â€œnebulaeâ€ seen and recorded by William Herschel during the summer of 1782.Since my skies are loaded with sky glow, it is not possible to see the ansae (handles) at the ends of the long axis of this beautiful bluish planetary nebula. With the ansae visible this planetary nebula very much resembles a blue version of the planet Saturn with its rings edge on. At high magnification the white dwarf central star is easily detectable with 18â€ of aperture although the view is much better under dark transparent skies.

Frank, nice sketch. I observed the nebula the 3th of this month with my 30 cm Dobson, also in suburban region with the Moon in the sky (NELM 4). But I din't see at x171 the "ring" or the central star. I noticed some green (and not blue).

I was back and forth with an ultrablock nebula filter which I did not attach to the eyepiece. I was using the filter to get the shape. With the filter this nebula looks greener and without the filter it looks more like an aqua blue to my eye. I see the "cat's eye" NGC 6543 as a green with or without a filter. With both of these planetaries I have no trouble with the central star unless I use a filter then the star is not visible.Jef, very nice sketch of NGC 7009 and in your sketch on my monitor your nebula looks more blue than green to my eyes. Maybe I have a fundamental problem with my colors? I chose a light brown color pencil for this sketch because inverted it was the closest color to what I saw at the eyepiece.

Thank you for your comments. Like you I examine this planetary about one time per year. My sky is so light polluted I usually wait for this one to reach the south meridian then I only need to move the scope to the correct altitude which for me is 37Â° 37' for this target.

FrankIt's normal that you don't see any green in my sketch. I made it without colouring (just pencil on white paper and inverted).The green colour was only visible by x92. By x171 (the magnification of the sketch) I didn't noticed any colour. I tried Lumicon UHC, but it didn't make the nebula any better.

Color perception of planetaries seems to vary a little for me. If I observe planetaries after being in the dark for several hours I see the distinctions in color better. Transparency of the sky also seems to play a role.Thank you for your comments and nice words.

Nice sketch and an interesting target, too--doubly so if the Great Herschel first saw it. I have never observed it--after the Moon wanes might be a good time while the real Saturn is lost in the glare of the Sun.